Hit the Stop Button

A while ago, I was at a session where the speaker enjoined those of us seeking for a new direction or a change in our lives to do 4 things - Start, Stop, More and then Less. All 4 were not static as they were dependent on what goals were in focus. 

So why were these 4 positions necessary and how much do they support our sought position. Well, it's simple: for every mission, there are those activities we must set in motion to reach them, these are our start and then there are those we must stop funding with our energy - just stop. This is because they are inimical to the goal at hand. Yet, there are those little actions we have set in motion currently that are showing good results and represents boosters for our current pursuit - for these, we must power them and do more. And then, the last aspect speaks to the things we must do less of - not because they are not necessary, but given current realities, we cannot fund them at the levels they previously held. 

After that session, my little time using this model has shown that the STOP button, is the most tricky to play with. Yet, it is supposed to be just so easy - as in as simple as STOP. One just needs to strike the stop button and answer the emanating questions. That should not be too difficult to deal with I suppose. Well, they are not if the questions they pose were pedestrian. You see, stopping is more than just a Stop, many times, its a reset, a pause, a time to take stock and save energy from doing a particular thing or act in certain manners. 

So the STOP button is both an unlearning process as well as a start. A start because we are doing something different from what we are used to and unlearning a part of our life or lifestyle. Whatever way you look at it, and no matter how far it takes from us. At every stop, we face the opportunity to answer some of our hard questions and no matter how we answer them, they (questions) lose their stranglehold on us. You have to give answering these questions a try and be sure to answer with as much of the knowledge available to you - the tangible. It, not the time to look to a glimmer for the sake of keeping faith and hope alive. Stops require more than that, for you must not fund a mirage with your Stop.

So whether it is matters of the heart or that business decision, you do not answer uncertainty with uncertainty or with that which is fleeting. 

Nugget: While it is true that love conquers, you must remember that it also calls for the most difficult of choices. So what are you stopping today?